Towards optimisation of digital filters and multirate filter banks through genetic algorithms

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the issues of design and optimisation of digital filters and multirate filter banks. The main focus and contribution of this thesis is to apply the genetic algorithm (GA) technique and to draw some comparison with the standard gradient and non-gradient based optimisation methods. The finite word length (FWL) constraint affects the accuracy of a real-time digital filter requency response. For the case of digital filters, this study is concerned with the optimisation of FWL coefficients using genetic algorithms. Some comparative study with the simple hill climber algorithms is also included. The outcome of this part of the study demonstrates a substantial improvement of the new results when compared with the simply rounded FWL coefficient frequency response.The FWL coefficient optimisation process developed in the earlier Chapters is extended to the field of multirate filter banks. All multirate filter banks suffer from the problems of amplitude, phase and aliasing errors and, therefore, constraints for perfect reconstruction (PR) of the input signal can be extensive. The problem, in general, is reduced to relaxing constraints at the expense of errors and finding methods for minimising the errors. Optimisation techniques are thus commonly used for the design and implementation of multirate filter banks. In this part of the study, GAs have been used in two distinct stages. Firstly, for the design optimisation so that the overall errors are minimised and secondly for FWL coefficient optimisation of digital filtersthat form the sub-band filters of the filter bank. This process leads to an optimal realisation of the filter bank that can be applied to specific applications such as telephony speech signal coding and compression. One example of the optimised QMF bank was tested on a real-time DSP target system and the results are reported.The multiple M-channel uniform and non-uniform filter banks have also been considered in this study for design optimisation. For a comparative study of the GA optimised results of the design stage of the filter bank, other standard methods such as the gradient based quasi-Newton and the non-gradient based downhill Simplex methods were also used. In general, the outcome of this part of study demonstrates that a hybrid approach of GA and standard method was the most efficient and effective process in generating the best results